Historical Colours
Just a word of caution concerning colours when trying to replicate the actual colours of the pre-DRG railways. As colour photography which was able to capture true colours was unavailable during the life of the pre-DRG railways, the only remaining proof is 'old' paint that has survived undisturbed for almost 80 years. Whilst this may well be acceptable, for example green is a naturally fugitive pigment especially in the types of paints in use over 80 years ago therefore some caution must be used. Moreover in the latter years, the paint mixtures became problematic as the availability of solvents was reduced (wartime) and those locos which were repainted may not have received the same colours as previously applied. More importantly, try to remember that you are trying to recreate a paint finish that would be eight years old at most (locos were repainted during major overhauls) and not a 80 year old finish. Unfortunately most modellers have little or no concept of the actual everyday use of steam locos prior to the DB/DR and do not understand the difference made to the overall finish of a loco by the BW's cleaners. The application of tallow to the loco changes its appearance beyond the pristine 'look' of the paintshop, it will add a darker lustre to the overall finish. If you are truly attempting to recreate the finish on old locos, try polishing the loco with T-Cut when its paint is finally dry. By all means allow your locos to look as if they have just left the manufacturer but in no way will they be representative of the prototype, no better than coal wagons without dirt or cattle wagons without a limewash. Tim

Er... What's "T-Cut"? Around here (South Oz) clean locos had tallow applied to cool surfaces, and "Stove Black" to hot surfaces. Stove Black appears to have been mostly graphite, according to my now elderly mother who recalled its use in the kitchen when she was a child. Specially prepared locos were lined out, and had the sides of their tires painted with Silverfros, aluminium paint. Until streamlining was introduced - in the mid-1930s here as elsewhere - engines were black, and engines that were not streamlined stayed black... Museum locos have nice paint, but it does not cover up the dents, patches and rust that were the livery of well worn locos. The lustre of a working locomotive is something I have never seen captured in a model of, say, less than 1:10 scale, and I do not know if it can be done.

Er... What's "T-Cut"? Is Google unavailable to Australia? Until streamlining was introduced - in the mid-1930s here as elsewhere - engines were black, and engines that were not streamlined stayed black... Which may be fine for Australia but the OP concerned pre-DRG railways in Germany.

Tim, In New South Wales (during the 1960s at least), black engines were generally cleaned using kerosene with a dash of cheap black oil added, the kerosene being the basic cleaning agent and the black oil leaving a glistening sheen on the paint and bare metal. I wonder whether kerosene would have been used as the engine cleaning agent in pre-DRG Germany? Greg

I think that we are becoming side-tracked into a minor discussion over loco cleaning methods rather than the issue of actual as opposed to presumed colours of pre-DRG locos. Having stated that, the methods of cleaning depend on the availability of manpower and materiel. Whether kerosene, paraffin, naptham or any petroleum-based cleaner was available, each has an effect on the surface finish of the locomotive and the nature of the effect is debatable but what is for certain is that the cleaning did have an effect. Leading on from this, I doubt whether any of this matters to those who attempt to model EpI as I have yet to detect any desire to question let alone change the factory applied finish to any models however for those modellers who are serious about replicating an EpI scene there are some rather dubious models on offer.

"For those modellers who are serious about replicating an EpI scene there are some rather dubious models on offer" Some of us would be happy just to get an EpI layout up and running! Having said that, would you be prepared to stick your neck out and name and shame a few of the said dubious models? Tede